Hold all my calls...: Gettin' peninsular in mainland Malaysia

I left Kuching and hopped a quick flight to Kuala Lumpur. The weekend I left, there was a dart throwing competition at the local mall in Kuching. I wish I could have stayed around, but it was time for me to get out of town. Either I would have seen an amazing display of skill (who the hell is actually good at darts!?), or a bunch of absolute amateurs having a great time. Either way, it would have been worth it.

Busy food street in KL

Anyway...the plan was to spend a day or so in KL, and then start making my way north to end at the food paradise of Penang. Not too much to report about KL. Pretty decent southeast Asian city. Lots of good food, malls on every corner, and cars honking non-stop. I had a couple of delicious meals, including a face-meltingly spicy som tam salad. Without a ton of time for sightseeing, I missed the Petronas Towers and the world's largest capsule vending maching. In my defense I would have visited that, but I didn't even know it existed until I saw the sign on the bus out of town. Oh well, unless Dubai feels the need to one-up them in the capsule vending department, it will probably be there when I come back.

Ready for grilling

Instead of heading straight to the major tourist destination of Tanah Rata in the Cameron Highlands, I decided to stop in Ipoh. I figured most people probably pass right through on the trail from KL to Penang, and I was right. For the first time in Malaysia I didn't see any other white tourists. The Indian community is gearing up for Deepavali, and the streets were filled with stands selling sweets of all kinds. My plan of losing weight is not quite coming together like I hoped.

The bus from Ipoh to Tanah Rata was comfy and scenic, and it sure was refreshing to step out into the cool mountain air. I met a local (maybe) guy in the bus station who told me he wanted to leave town but didn't want to take a bus. He was less than thrilled when I suggested hitchhiking.

Guy: No! No hitchhiking here. You would die.

Me: What!? No way. It'll be great!

Guy: No. Maybe no one will stop for me, because I am Indian. You have white skin. You will be kidnapped or killed. Immediately!

The next morning I hitched a ride from Tanah Rata to the neighboring town of Brinchang and climbed up Mount Brinchang, via a muddy jungle trail. On the walk back, I heard a honk behind me as a nice Mercedes pulled off to the shoulder. A nice older couple offered me a ride back to Tanah Rata just because they felt like stopping. I had planned on walking, but gladly accepted their generosity.